People walk past a burned building after riots in Ettadhamoun, west of Tunis, Thursday Jan.13, 2011. Sporadic sounds of clashes and rounds of gunfire echoed in the suburbs of Tunisia’s capital early Thursday as youths defied a government curfew order aimed at calming more than three weeks of riots by protesters angry about high unemployment. (AP Photo)

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Rioters hurled stones at trams and government buildings in Tunisia’s capital on Thursday in defiance of increasingly tough government attempts to quash more than three weeks of rioting by youths angry about joblessness.

Overnight, police opened fire and killed four people who defied a government curfew in several towns, opposition members said, driving up a death toll already in the dozens. Looters in the Bizerte region raided a supermarket, pharmacy, clothing shops and a bookstore amid chaos, said union leader and human rights advocate Souad Ghousami, a member of the opposition PDP party. […]

The government’s death toll stands at 23, while opposition figures and witnesses say it is more than 50, including the deaths overnight near Tunis and in the northern region of Bizerte. French and Swiss citizens visiting their native country were among those killed, the two European governments said.